Monday, May 15, 2017

UIW is a Governmental Unit, says Texas Supreme Court

Well, I described the argument as a silly one, but it was not too silly for the Texas Supreme Court. In the case of Redus v. UIW, the Supreme Court ruled that the law enforcement department of a private university is a governmental body for purposes of qualified immunity. With qualified immunity, the law enforcement officers enjoy greater protection from lawsuits. As I indicated then, the Texas Supreme Court is remarkably friendly to defendants in suits for money damages. I previously wrote about the appeal here.

The court reasoned that charter schools are afforded governmental immunity. Although, charter schools are also expressly provided with governmental immunity by the statute creating charter schools. The court then pointed to the various functions performed by campus police officers which equate to the same functions performed by true governmental police officers.

The court notes that the Texas Tort Claims Act provides that to receive governmental immunity, an entity must be an “institution, agency or organ of government” and derive its status and authority as such from laws passed by the Legislature. The court then asks if the UIW campus police department is part of a larger governmental system. The court pointed to the statutory scheme that makes private charter schools part of the broader public school system in Texas. The statutory scheme that created charter schools expressly provides governmnental immunity to those schools. The Legislature did not say anything similar when it allowed private universities to establish campus police departments. But, said the court, the Legislature allowed private universities to use the same resources true governmental entities use to enforce laws: commissioned peace officers. The court concluded that the UIW police department satisfies the requirements of a governmental entity. It left to the court of appeals to determine the final question, whether sovereign immunity would apply to the lawsuit regarding the death of Cameron Redus in 2013. See the decision here. But, if UIW is now an “organ” of government, that result is essentially decided by this opinion.

No dissent was filed, so we assume the decision was unanimous. The court went to great lengths to reach its intended aim, limiting the lawsuit against UIW. No law gives UIW its status as an organ of government. The reasoning tends to suggest a result oriented decision. The court’s opinion would apparently not apply to private security guards, who are not commissioned peace officers. But, otherwise, it appears that any entity that hires commissioned peace officers for security may become a governmental entity for purposes of the Texas Tort Claims Act. That is a remarkable result. For example, under this reasoning, a celebrity passing through Texas who hires a commissioned peace officer for security would probably achieve governmental entity protections just like UIW.